Congraf circumvents crisis and believes in market resumption

The crisis brought growth and learning. This is how Congraf analyzes the difficult economic moment it overcame due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus.
In the last four months, the packaging industry has had to adapt quickly to market instabilities, to the many ready-made orders in stock that have been suspended, to understand the difficulties of paying some customers, to emergency demands, with production overnight, and the fear of dealing with a new scenario caused by the virus.
"In such an unexpected scenario the strategy was to live one week at a time. All challenges have been overcome by a dedicated team, with waist play and plenty of patience to solve each issue. It was all new and melancholy. But today, we consider to be at a level above what we were four months ago, when managing various crises. More than ever, we know that we can count on all employees and that we learn a lot", points out the Industrial Director of Congraf, Sidney Anversa Victor Junior.
One of the main factors that favored Congraf throughout this period of economic downturn was its varied portfolio of clients, which includes several markets. "Without a doubt, that was a positive point. Some sectors have stopped, such as cosmetics in general, hair dyes and retail products by stores. While other sectors, such as soaps, hygiene and cleaning products and food continued and grew a lot in the period", explains the director.
Congraf's first quarter had been positive, with an average transformation of 1,000 t of cardboard/month and a 10% increase over last year. With the pandemic, May was the most difficult month and had a drop of around 30% compared to 2019.
But in July the company has already noticed signs of market recovery, although it believes that the resumption will be very gradual. Some smaller demands than before the pandemic are returning. "Customers are still afraid, they need to resume the financial flow and restructure their teams. They need to redo the strategy to work in a new moment and this naturally takes time. Still, we have the daily challenge of maintaining or growing compared to 2019. We will continue to monitor and read the company in the situations that arise. But Brazil is strong, it's big. We are very sure that we will overcome this phase", concludes Junior.